


Veronica

by darth_fluffy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Canon Compliant, Drama, Gen, Manga Spoilers, Pre-Canon, Prequel, canonverse, even though they've all killed a bunch of people I love them so much, the three little warriors, up until chapter 57
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_fluffy/pseuds/darth_fluffy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their way to the Walls, Bertolt, Annie, Reiner, and Berik run across an unexpected companion- who may have her own reasons at heart for helping them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Veronica

“HEY BERIK!” Reiner yells, unfortunately close to her ear. “Bet’cha I can spit farther than you!” 

“I’d like to see you _try!”_ comes the indignant response. 

Safe inside the vertebrae of the giant that surrounded her, Annie rolls her eyes.

 _Ugh. Boys are_ so _stupid._

A sharp pain in her leg alerts her to the Titan currently gnawing at it. A little one- barely coming up to her knee. 

One crystallized kick later, its head is no longer attached to its body.

_And besides, I could beat all three of them in a fight any day._

***

The sun bursts through the clouds for the first time that day, turning the grassy hills into vibrant jade and the steady rain into a veil of silver. 

Too little, too late. 

She’s been running for almost twelve hours on very little sunlight, and can feel her strength- her humanity- slipping away. 

_It’s almost sunset._

She scans the horizon, hoping to find a tall tree or rock, somewhere Titans couldn’t easily get to. Nothing. 

_If we can’t find a safe place to spend the night…_

“Yeah well, _you_ look like that little Titan I stepped on the other day- you know, the one with the _really big ears_ and eyes that went like this-“ Berik is saying.

“I do _not!”_ Reiner replies. 

“Guys…” Bertholdt breaks in.

_Just a little bit farther… it’s gonna be a pretty hard night if we can’t find shelter soon…_

Annie’s human mouth settles into a frown.

_This mission is stupid. I wish I was home._

_No. I gotta be tough. Dad’s counting on me._ Everyone’s _counting on me. I just gotta keep going._

Her great body fell to its knees in the wet grass, all its strength gone. As if being pulled from wet clay, Annie emerged from its neck to meet three pairs of inquisitive eyes. 

“We gotta keep going _.”_  

***

Several hours later, the four wet, shivering hungry and exhausted kids huddle in the rain-soaked grass, the cold, driving rain and the pitch-black night their only company.

A flash of lightning cuts a jagged, brilliant streak through the sky, followed by a peal of thunder that seems to shake the earth to its roots, and Annie can practically _feel_ Bertholdt flinch.

“I don’t like this,” he whispers a second later, his words so small against the infinite, suffocating darkness that envelopes them. “A Titan could be right in front of us, and we’d never even know it. We’re basically a bedtime snack.”

“Aww, Bertl, you don’t have to worry. There’s not a Titan in the _world_ that could eat you if you transformed.” Reiner’s voice.

“Yeah, but-“

“You know what I’d do if a Titan got me?” Berik says, every word infused with a cocky grin.  “I’d wait until I was _all_ the way in its stomach and then I’d transform and _blow it up_ from the _inside_ and all the blood would get _everywhere_ and it would be _awesome_ andthen I’d go and punch all the _other_ Titans in the _face_ and _then_ I’d go AAAAAAA- Ow!” His words are cut short by Annie’s punch. “What’d you do that for?!”

“Because if a Titan _did_ eat you, it’d gain the power of stupid,” Annie responds curtly. “We’re _already_ drawing every Titan in the area, do you want to attract them even _more_ by _yelling?”_

“You’re just jealous of my awesomeness, Miss Grumpy Pants.”

Annie rolls her eyes. “It probably won’t matter for much longer anyway, I hope. The Titans can’t be any stronger than we are right now. Shut up and go to sleep."

“Hey Reiner, Annie said ‘shut up’,” Berik taunts.

“Yeah, well, Dad isn’t here, so I can say it as much as I want. Shut up. Shut up shut up shut up.” Annie flops down in the wet grass and curls up on her side, her body aching from exhaustion, her mind too alert to sleep.

_I’m not a little kid anymore- I’m ten years old. And Bertl’s scared of his own shadow and Reiner and Berik have mush for brains. I gotta be the tough one or we’re not making it to the Walls at all._

_But… I don’t_ wanna _be the tough one, not all the time. I just wanna be home, instead of lying in this gross, squelchy, icky mud, running errands for a bunch of grownups who are too fat and lazy to do it themselves._

 _I’m sorry, Dad. You always told me I needed to fight, to be strong. All that training, ever since I was really little… it was all for this. And we’re barely a week into this, and_ already _I wanna go home._

_I’m already letting you down._

_And even though you weren’t that nice to me or Mom, before she left… I still miss you a bunch._

“I see a light!” Reiner yells.

“Go back to sleep, Reiner,” Annie mumbles into the dirt.

“No, seriously, I saw it. No joke.”

“Hey guys, I see it too,” Bertholdt adds.

Annie sits up and squints into the darkness- and sure enough; she can see it, a tiny glowing orb rounding the crest of the nearest hill. 

“I bet it’s a ghost or a spirit of some sort. Or a Titan with a lamp. Or a ghost Titan with a lamp,” Berik says.

Annie gives him a look. “Don’t be silly. Ghost Titans don’t exist.”

“I wish _we_ had a lamp,” Bertholdt muses.

“Maybe whoever it is’ll give us theirs,” Reiner says hopefully.

Another flash of lightning illuminates they sky as the phantom light crests the ridge, silhouetting a dark figure on horseback against the thunderclouds.

 _I want you to treat the entire world as your enemy,_ her father had said.

“Who goes there?” she calls into the dark of the night. 

The light gallops closer, the hoofbeats of the mysterious figure’s horse providing an ominous undercurrent to the pounding of the rain. Beside her, she can hear Bertolt suck in a breath. Her own hands clench around the blades of grass.

“Four children, out on their own on a night like _this?”_ The voice is female and practically dripping with concern.

Annie looks up to see the mysterious holder of the light push her hood back and dismount from her horse, the lantern in her hand casting a warm pool of light around the five of them, pushing back the stormy darkness. 

She’s a grownup, though not _old,_ with long, dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail and tanned, coppery skin with darker freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. Her eyes are warm and brown, almost sparkling in the lanternlight and filled with worry.

Annie dislikes her immediately.

“And with no warm clothes, no light…” The woman shakes her head.  “Who let you stay out on a night like this? Where are your parents?” 

“They’re-“ Reiner starts to say.

_They’re at home._

_“Reiner,”_ Annie hisses a warning under her breath. _We can’t let her learn too much._

“We don’t have any parents,” Berik replies, his voice heavy with feigned sadness. _I didn’t know you could lie that well,_ Annie thinks. _I’m impressed._

“Was it Titans?” the woman asks, though her words carry the deadness of a question that doesn’t need to be answered.

Almost imperceptibly, Berik nods.

A dark cloud of grief settles over the stranger’s face, and she dips her head. “I understand. I’ve lost family to the Titans, too- my husband and our three children, not any older than you. It still hurts my heart to this day. But to experience such loss in one so young…” She shakes her head. ”I can’t even _begin_ to imagine it." 

With those words, she unclasps the cloak from her shoulders, bends down, and wraps it tightly around Berik’s smaller ones. “There. That should keep you warm.”

“Uhhh… thanks,” Berik stammers.

“Oh, don’t thank me. It’s the least I can do.” She pauses, as if lost in thought. “You know, I have a house not to far from here. How would you four like a nice hot meal and warm bed?” 

“Yes!” Reiner exclaims.

_Treat the entire world as your enemy, Annie._

_Do I_ have _to, Dad? She seems so kind…. Just for tonight?_

Annie narrows her eyes and folds her arms over her chest, trying to come off as intimidating even though she only barely comes up to this strange woman’s waist. “We’re fine. We can take care of ourselves. What _I_ want to know is, who are you? Why are _you_ out so late at night? And how did you find us?”

“As to your first question,” the woman says, “my name is Veronica. As to your second and third, my beloved dog, Wuffie, ran off this morning and I decided to wait until nightfall to look for him, since there would be less risk from Titans that way, and-“ here her face splits into a beatific smile- “ I happened to find four lost, lonely, orphans and decided to show them a little slice of kindness. Now come, children. The night grows darker as we speak.” 

Reiner starts towards the horse, but is swiftly interrupted by Annie’s hand grabbing his arm. “Reiner, we can’t. We don’t know anything about her.”

“Oh, c’mon, it’ll be _fine._ We’ll get out of the rain, get good food, and have a safe place to sleep, away from the Titans.And besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“The worst that could happen is… uh… something,” Annie’s words trail off. “But I still don’t trust her.”

“You don’t trust _anyone._ Let’s get going. I’m freezing.” With that, Reiner scrambles up onto Veronica’s horse to join the other two young Shifters.

With a sigh, Annie follows him. _If you guys insist…_

***

“Thith ith really good,” Reiner mumbles, his mouth full of the stew that Veronica had cooked. “What’th in it?”

“Turnips, potatoes, celery, fish, and I used a variety of local herbs for seasoning,” Veronica replies with a smile. “I’m glad you like it! It’s been a while since I had kids around to criticize my cooking. I was worried I’d started to slip." 

Reiner shakes his head. “Oh no, not at all.”

“Say, I never managed to get your names.”

“I’m Reiner, and this is Berik, Bertholdt, and my grumpy little sister Annie.”

Annie shoots him a look. “I’m not _grumpy.”_

Berik chuckles under his breath. “Case in point.”

“Siblings, huh?” Veronica says. I can’t say I’m surprised. The two of you certainly do look similar- same hair and nose.” Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m so glad you have each other to stand on- some shred of your family left. This world is cruel, and to be all alone in it is even more so.” Her breath catches in her throat, not quite a sigh, not quite a sob.

“Are you alright, Miss Veronica?” Bertholdt asks. 

She sniffs and Annie can see the tears in her eyes. “Please, just call me Veronica. And yes, I am perfectly fine. It’s just… You remind me so much of my _own_ children, back when they were alive.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Reiner says helplessly.

She shakes her head. “Don’t be. Say, I’m a mother who’s lost her children, and you four are children without their parents… maybe, just maybe, we could help each other out?”

Annie remembers her father’s parting embrace, his tearful apology, her desperate promise.

_No. We have parents. And I don’t trust you, Miss Veronica. I never have._

Annie stands up from the table, though her every limb is heavy from exhaustion. “That’s…” she stifles a yawn, “…not an option.” _I didn’t realize I was this tired. Must be from all the running._

_I think I need to sit down._

“Annie, are you alright?’ Veronica asks, her voice thick with concern. “You must’ve had a _very_ hard day. Let’s get you to bed.”

  _Bed._

_That sounds nice._

Veronica shows the four of them to their rooms, and within seconds, Annie is asleep.

***

Annie wakes up with a start to an abrupt jolt. 

_Ugh. It feels like my mouth’s full of cotton._

Her eyes widen as she takes in the fact that, indeed, it is.

She’s lying on her back in a motionless cart- _I must’ve woken up when it stopped moving-_ with her writs and ankles securely bound and a thick cotton gag filling her mouth.

Bertholdt, Reiner, and Berik are all there- asleep or dead, Annie can’t tell which.

She hears a _click_ as the panel that forms the car’s back wall is unlatched, and Veronica steps into view. “I hope you’ll forgive me for the use of the restraints- I can’t imagine it being terribly comfortable for you- but I couldn’t take the risk of the drugs wearing off early.” There is no warmth in her eyes now as they meet Annie’s. “And it seems I was right to be cautious.” 

Annie narrows her frosty blue eyes, trying to force all the anger she can into her gaze. _You betrayed us. You fed us, clothed us, gave us shelter- and you turned around and stabbed us in the back. Father was right. The whole world_ is _my enemy._

“And I couldn’t have very well just hit you over the head, because that could’ve triggered a transformation,” Veronica says, her tone oddly conversational, as if she’s discussing the weather.

_So you know what we are._

“But anyway, it’s time. We’re here.” She reaches into the cart and scoops out Annie as if she were a small child. “Now, don’t struggle. I don’t want you to suffer for any longer than you have to.”

Suffice to say, Annie does not heed her advice.

She wriggles and thrashes like a beached whale causing Veronica to almost lose her grip and to utter a word much stronger than ‘shut up’.

 _“Stop it,”_ Veronica says, tightening her grip on the squirming girl in her arms. As they round the corner of the cart, Annie’s eyes widen as she takes in the sight in front of her.

“Remember my family? The ones I told you about? _This_ is what’s left of them.”

Four Titans- all fairly small, the biggest not larger than eight meters- sit under the fold of the nearby ridge, all bound by a thick network of ropes and stakes.

“My beloved husband and beautiful children,” Veronica says, her voice choked and gravelly, “they became _this._ Mindless, inhuman monsters, driven only by their taste for human flesh. _My_ flesh. Do you know what it’s _like,_ to see your dearest loved ones become monsters before your very eyes?”

Hot tears splash onto Annie’s cheeks. “I had given up all hope of ever having my family back with me again, but than I saw _you_ ,” she continues, hope now brightening her voice. “Four little Shifters, one for each. It was perfect.”

“You must hate me for what I’m about to do to you and your friends.”

 _Yes. I do,_ Annie thinks.

“You must think of me as a villain. But… the four of you are heading to the Walls, aren’t you, Annie?”

Anger courses through her small body. _How did you know…?!_

“And, of course, there could be only one reason why people from _your_ village would be going to the Walls.” She shakes her head. “The four of you, so young… and yet, you’ll kill many more people than me when you get there, won’t you?”

 _That’s not… I’m not… We’re just_ kids... 

“See, Annie? I’m just like you. We’re both willing to stain our hands with blood if it means getting our precious family back.” 

 _Dad, I promise I’ll come home,_ she had said, only a week ago.

“So, tell me, Annie. Who’s the _real_ villain here?”

_Stop it._

“Well,” Veronica says cheerfully, “I’m _sure_ you’re tired of hearing me talk. So I guess it’s time.” She walks towards the smallest of the Titans, until she’s standing on a rock just above its gaping maw. “Adam…” she says, holding back a sob, “you’ll see your mommy soon. Annie… fall.”

And with those words, she lets her go. 

Annie stretches her bound hands out towards the sky, the sun, the light she’ll never see again. 

A flash of sickening, white-hot pain as the Titan’s teeth close around her outstretched fingers, leaving bloody stumps in their wake.

As the Titan swallows her, it’s her _own_ tears that stream down her face.

***

The Titan’s stomach is an empty, wet, boiling hot cavern- Annie is clearly its first meal in a while.

She lies on her side, her body wrenched by sobs.

“Please… someone… help me…”

Her whisper of a voice echoes around the Titan’s gullet, her only response.

“I don’t wanna die like this… I’m only ten… I don’t wanna die… I wanna go home and see Daddy again… I _don’t wanna die…”_

_How long is it going to take me to die here?_

_Think, Annie. I gotta be the tough one. I gotta get a grip_

_No. It’s hopeless. I’m gonna die here._

_I’m sorry, Dad. I let you down._

_It’s not_ fair… _I’m just a_ kid…

“I don’t wanna _die…”_

She moves her hands, studies her bound wrists and the already-steaming stumps of her fingers. _But wait. I’m already hurt._

_If I could just make it worse…_

_But_ how?

 _Could I crystallize my skin in my_ human _form?_

_I’ve never done it before but… it’s my only chance._

Her hands shaking with terror, Annie _concentrates._

Within seconds, the flesh of her right hand is solid crystal.

_I did it!_

She does the same with her left high, and then, with all the force in her body, brings her hands down on her thigh.

Caught between two layers of rock-hard armor, the barely-closed stumps of her left fingers are torn open once more.

It’s not a lot, but it’s enough.

And Annie finds herself inside the Female Titan once more.

Through her giant eyes, she can see Veronica, Berik limp in her arms and her mouth forming a small O of surprise.

 _No. I’m_ not _gonna let you hurt my friends._

Veronica dumps Berik unceremoniously into the dirt and reaches for something inside the pocket of her jacket.

It’s only when the familiar flash occurs that Annie realizes it was a knife.

_She’s a Shifter too?!_

Veronica’s Titan, though older, has neither the size, nor the combat training of Annie; and within seconds, it’s over.

Annie hardens her fingers, squeezes deep into Veronica’s nape, and pulls the woman who had been almost a mother to them, for one short night, out into the dirt.

_Got her. Now I gotta see if Bertl and Reiner and Berik are okay._

She pulls herself free of her _own_ Titan’s nape and races over to check her friends.

_They’re all fine. Thank goodness._

_This world is cruel, but to be all alone in it is even more so._

“Hey, Annie,” Bertholdt asks groggily, “what happened? Where are we? I saw a flash…”

“Veronica took us prisoner,” Annie replies. 

“What?”

“She was going to feed us to her family- they’d been turned into Titans. But I managed to escape and saved you guys.”

 _“Veronica_ did that? But she was so nice at first…”

“I know.” 

“What happened to her?” 

Annie casts her gaze to where her Titan’s body lay. It’s since evaporated, leaving only the broken, bloody, mangled corpse of Veronica herself.

_Is… she dead?_

_Did I just_ kill _someone?_

She swallows down the bile that rises in her throat.

_She was going to kill us. It had to be done. If I didn’t, Reiner and Bertl and Berik wouldn’t be here right now._

_And… maybe we_ were _alike. Maybe_ everyone _is like that, willing to throw children to monsters if it means they can achieve their goals._

 _Dad, you were right. This world_ is _my enemy._

“Let’s go,” she says. 

***

**Epilogue: Five Years Later**

The three of them lay sprawled out on a rooftop, the hulking shadow of the corpse of Wall Maria towering over them in the moonlight.

Ymir is fast asleep- her snoring punctuates the tranquil night air with something resembling the sound of a sawmill.

Reiner isn’t.

How _could_ he, sitting on top of Shiganshina, the bled-out city that’s haunted his mind for the past five years?

He remembers that initial charge up to the gate, remembers, the months in the refugee cam that followed, the hundreds of broken families and starving refugees, the thousands sent on a suicide mission to recapture Wall Maria, the burning flames of hatred in Eren’s eyes as he recounted the death of his mother. All because of _him._

Reiner wants to vomit. 

Were it not for the fact that he hasn’t eaten anything since before Castle Utgard, he probably _would_ have.

_You know, you’re really stupid, Ymir. Giving up your life to protect a pair of mass murderers like us- only an idiot would do that._

“Hey, Bertl?” he mutters.

“Whaa?” comes the sleepy response.

“Remember Veronica? 

“Yeah, what about her?”

Reiner clenches his fist. “Why couldn’t her family have eaten us, back then? She could have had them back… she could have been _happy…_ but she didn’t. We escaped. And now Berik’s dead and Annie’s being tortured and hundreds of _thousands_ of people are dead… because of _us!”_ His voice rises to a fever pitch. _“Why_ couldn’t she have killed us then?! It would have been better for _everyone…”_ His voice trails off as Bertholdt reaches over to take his hand. 

“Why aren’t we dead, Bertl?” he whispers to the star-studded sky, his tears tracing the path of the Shifter scars on his face. “Why?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually going to be my final project for a creative writing course- so any constructive criticism would be VERY appreciated.
> 
> And I didn't even realize this was inspired by Hansel and Gretel until about halfway through.
> 
> I REALLY hope I got Annie, Reiner and Bertolt's personalities right, while still making them seem like the innocent ten-year-olds they were at the time.
> 
> Also, I'd love your thoughts on the character of Veronica.


End file.
